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Minnesota Wild Activate Vladimir Tarasenko, Reassign Hunter Haight

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The Minnesota Wild announced today that veteran forward Vladimir Tarasenko has been activated off of injured reserve. In a corresponding move, the team reassigned forward Hunter Haight to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild.

Tarasenko had been on injured reserve since Nov. 20, with his placement made retroactive to Nov. 14. Tarasenko has not appeared in a game since Nov. 11. Tarasenko has been dealing with a lower-body injury, one that has caused him to miss a total of seven games.

Before his injury, Tarasenko had gotten off to a decent start to his Wild tenure. The 33-year-old signed a one-year, $4.75MM deal with the Wild this past summer, coming off of an underwhelming campaign with the Detroit Red Wings. Tarasenko scored 11 goals and 33 points, which are passable numbers for a player operating within a specific role, but are well below the standards Tarasenko set earlier in his career.

Before his injury, Tarasenko had scored 10 points in 18 games for the Wild, which is a 46-point, 82-game pace. That’s a notable improvement over his production from last season, even if it is not quite the kind of production hockey fans grew accustomed to seeing out of Tarasenko during his days as a star winger for the St. Louis Blues.

Getting Tarasenko back is a positive development for a Wild team that has been on a roll recently. They’ve relied heavily on the offensive contributions of a few key players (namely stars Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy) so getting Tarasenko back to full health should help deepen their attack.

As for Haight, his spot on the Wild’s NHL roster is an unfortunate casualty of Tarasenko’s return to health. The 21-year-old was a 2022 second-round pick who earned himself an NHL recall after a solid start to his pro career. 2024-25 was his debut season in the pro ranks, and he impressed scoring 20 goals and 34 points in 67 games. He was never an overwhelming producer during his days in the OHL, so the productive rookie year in the AHL was certainly encouraging.

The Iowa Wild have struggled as a whole to put the puck in the net this season, ranking No. 30 out of 32 teams in the AHL in terms of total goals scored. That’s why while Haight’s production this year (five points in 13 games) doesn’t jump off the page, it’s important to provide context to the environment he’s playing in to help explain why he’s earned this early recall. At the NHL level, Haight played in two games, averaging under 10 minutes of ice time per game.

While he didn’t get the chance to truly make his mark at the NHL level, it’s likely we’ll see Haight back in the NHL at some point down the line. The team at Elite Prospects ranked Haight the No. 9 prospect in the Wild’s system before the season, with scout David St-Louis praising what he saw as Haight’s “hyper-creative style of play.” The hope moving forward for Haight will be that he can help translate that creativity into more steady AHL production, even as Iowa continues to struggle as a team overall.

Looking at things from a financial lens, Haight will want to earn as many recalls as possible in order to place himself in the best position he can to earn a roster spot on the Wild’s 2026-27 NHL roster. Haight’s entry-level contract enters its final year next season, and unlike previous years on his deal, he won’t earn any signing bonus for next season. (He had a $95K signing bonus on his deal for 2025-26.) Because of that, if Haight can’t make it to the NHL roster for next season, he’ll be stuck in the AHL making an $82.5K AHL salary, a significant reduction from his total compensation in each of the last two seasons.

While there’s more motivation to make it to the NHL than just pure salary difference, Haight’s contract situation further emphasizes his need to make a push for more NHL call-ups beyond this most recent one.

Latest On Travis Dermott

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28-year-old defenseman Travis Dermott is a veteran of nearly 350 NHL games, but doesn’t currently have a contract for the 2025-26 season. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported today that Dermott underwent shoulder surgery in June and has now fully recovered, and is looking for a place to play this season to resume his career.

At one point, it looked as though Dermott was going to be a steady, long-term fixture on an NHL blueline – specifically that of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team that selected him 34th overall at the 2015 draft. The former Erie Otter was ranked No. 3 in the Maple Leafs’ prospect pool in February 2018 by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler. Dermott ended the season a Calder Cup champion, and Wheeler at the time projected him to become a No. 3 or No. 4 NHL defenseman, someone “who can positively impact possession and play on the penalty kill.”

Dermott’s offensive production never quite took a step forward at the NHL level, and he has a career-high of just 17 points. His overall play was inconsistent, and persistent injury issues cost him the chance to get into a rhythm at the NHL level.

If one specific point can be looked at as a turning point for Dermott in Toronto, it was overtime of game six of the team’s 2021 first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens. While the Maple Leafs dominated most of the extra frame, Dermott ended up fumbling the puck and had to watch as Canadiens forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi rifled a game-winning goal past Jack Campbell, forcing a game seven that the Maple Leafs ultimately lost.

Dermott was never able to fully earn the trust of the Maple Leafs, and that moment underscored his inability to secure a firm grasp on a regular NHL role in Toronto. The following year after that playoff series, Dermott was traded to the Vancouver Canucks.

Injuries once again proved a major roadblock to Dermott’s progress, limiting him to just 28 NHL games across two seasons in Vancouver. The Canucks cut him loose after he played in just 12 games in 2022-23.

Dermott spent all of 2023-24 in the NHL with the since-relocated Arizona Coyotes, and sticking in the NHL for the full season helped him earn a one-year, $775K deal with the Edmonton Oilers for 2024-25, a deal that contained a hefty $500K AHL salary in the event Dermott got sent down.

Once again, Dermott wasn’t able to get on the ice consistently. He was limited to just 10 games in Edmonton in total, and nine games for the Minnesota Wild after he was claimed off of waivers in December. Injuries had limited him in the past, but in Minnesota, he was a regular healthy scratch.

At this point, the key for Dermott to re-establish himself as an NHL-relevant player will be to stay and find a way to get into an NHL lineup and play well enough to hold onto that spot. He offers more NHL experience than most players still without a contract at this point in the season, so it’s easy to see a team giving Dermott a shot. But given his form over the last few years, those hoping to get the version of Dermott that existed at times during his Maple Leafs tenure should probably temper their expectations.

At 28 years old, whatever playing opportunity Dermott receives will be an absolutely massive one for the future of his career. It’s easy to see Dermott’s next contract as a fork-in-the-road moment in his NHL career, so it’ll be extremely important for him to get off to a fast start wherever he lands in the next few weeks.

Photos courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

West Notes: Canucks Strategy, Hart, Hinostroza

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Earlier today, we covered reports coming out of Vancouver that the Canucks had made it known across the league that key veteran players, namely, their pending unrestricted free agents, were available to other teams in trade talks. The Athletic’s Thomas Drance provided some more detail on the situation in Vancouver, reporting that the club’s “hockey operations leadership spent much of the day in high-level meetings” and emerged with “a growing belief that the time has come to proactively chart a clear direction for the franchise.” While Drance clarified that the team is unlikely “to publicly brand their overall approach” as a “rebuild,” the Canucks have decided to realign their priorities “into a younger overall direction.”

Perhaps the most alarming element of Drance’s reporting, at least for the Canucks’ short-term future, was his revelation that Canucks management “has seen enough to be skeptical of this group’s urgency and will to win on a consistent basis.” That impacts the Canucks’ immediate planning, as the team had long been rumored to be highly interested in acquiring an NHL-ready second-line center. That has now changed, with Drance writing that “the notion of paying futures for a second-line center upgrade will be off the table for the time being.” The Canucks are in a difficult spot, to be sure, and the looming unrestricted free agency of franchise face Quinn Hughes doesn’t help matters. But at the very least it appears the team is engaging in an honest interrogation of its own competitive chances, one that appears to have led to them selecting a more sustainable path to contention.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

  • The Vegas Golden Knights are “expected to recall” netminder Carter Hart to their NHL roster as early as next week, according to TSN’s Chris Johnston. Hart, the former starting netminder for the Philadelphia Flyers, hasn’t played in an NHL game since the 2023-24 season. He was acquitted of charges in this past summer’s high-profile trial, and signed with Vegas in October. They sent him to their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights, in November, and he has played in two games, posting a 1-1-0 record and a .875 save percentage. He’s expected to make one more start on his conditioning stint before joining the Golden Knights’ NHL roster. The Golden Knights remain without Adin Hill due to an injury, and have relied upon Akira Schmid and Carl Lindbom in Hill’s absence.
  • Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes provided the media, including The Athletic’s Michael Russo, with clarification on the recovery timeline of injured forward Vinnie Hinostroza. Hynes said that Hinostroza is likely to miss four-to-six weeks with his injury, a lower-body ailment he suffered on Nov. 21. Hinostroza, 31, was acquired by the Wild off of waivers from the Nashville Predators last season and has scored 13 points across 46 games with the team.

Metro Notes: McGroarty, Harding, Svechnikov

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The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired forward prospect Rutger McGroarty from the Winnipeg Jets in the summer of 2024 with the hope that he’d quickly translate his success at the NCAA to the pro ranks, and become an NHL player in short order. While that hasn’t happened just yet, The Athletic’s Josh Yohe reported today that “many in the Penguins organization have been blown away by how dominant McGroarty looked” in his two AHL games this season, noted that “it won’t be much longer until” McGroarty is elevated to Pittsburgh’s NHL roster.

It’s been a bit of a bumpy road for McGroarty at the pro level, as he not only struggled with some injuries, but also found his sub-par skating to be a larger barrier to his ability to impact a game than most likely expected. Yohe wrote that McGroarty “looked like a fish out of water at the NHL level” early last season, but also noted that “he looked like a decidedly different player in his second NHL stint” later in the season. McGroarty finished with 14 goals and 39 points in 60 AHL games last year, and has two goals through two AHL games this year. Whether the Penguins’ belief that McGroarty is a transformed and far more effective player actually materializes in tangible on-ice production remains to be seen, but it’s clear he’ll be a player to watch whenever his expected recall is made official.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • Besides McGroarty, one player that Yohe reported is also impressing Penguins brass is 2024 seventh-rounder Finn Harding. The Penguins were able to add Harding with the third-to-last pick of that year’s draft, and per Yohe, “the Penguins believe he has a future as an NHL player,” with team sources comparing him to former Penguins defenseman Ben Lovejoy. Harding began his pro career last season with an eight-game cameo at the ECHL level. So far this season, Harding has five points through 14 AHL games. If Harding, who is a 6’2″ right-shot blueliner, can end up anything like Lovejoy, who had a 544-game NHL career and won a Stanley Cup in 2016, the Penguins are likely to be quite pleased with their seventh-round investment.
  • On Sunday, reports emerged that Carolina Hurricanes star Andrei Svechnikov was reportedly open to a trade earlier in the season as he struggled with lower-than-expected usage and a season-opening scoring drought. Today, Svechnikov denied those reports, according to Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer. While it’s not without precedent for a player to publicly deny a private period of frustration that in reality very much existed, in Svechnikov’s case, his reported unhappiness was always unlikely to actually lead to a trade. The Hurricanes reportedly view Svechnikov as a cornerstone player, one that is central to their hopes of building a Stanley Cup championship team, and therefore it remains highly unlikely that they will reach an agreement with another team on a deal that sends Svechnikov out of Raleigh.

Carolina Hurricanes Recall Justin Robidas, Move Jesperi Kotkaniemi To IR

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The Carolina Hurricanes announced today that forward Justin Robidas has been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. In a corresponding move, they placed center Jesperi Kotkaniemi on injured reserve, retroactive to Nov. 14.

Since Kotkaniemi’s IR placement is retroactive to more than a week ago, he is eligible to be activated whenever he is ready to return to the ice. He was originally injured blocking a shot during the team’s game Nov. 14, and head coach Rod Brind’Amour revealed he is dealing with an injury to his ankle.

The 2018 No. 3 overall pick, Kotkaniemi has five points in 15 games played this season, skating in just over 10 minutes of ice time per night. In terms of usage, Kotkaniemi has been Brind’Amour’s most sparingly-utilized forward in 2025-26, a notable decline from last season where he averaged over 14 minutes of ice time per game en route to a 33-point season.

In recalling Robidas, the organization has added one of its developmental success stories back to its NHL roster. The 22-year-old is the son of former NHLer and current Montreal Canadiens assistant coach Stephane Robidas, and was a fifth-round pick at the 2021 NHL Draft. While he was a QMJHL star and captain of his junior team, who drew rave reviews from scouts due to his skating ability and work ethic, his 5’8″ frame led to most assuming he was more of a long-shot to become an NHL player.

While he hasn’t established himself as a full-time NHLer just yet, his progress since joining the pro ranks has been nothing but positive. Complications relating to the Hurricanes’ minor-league affiliate agreements caused Robidas to play his first professional season in the third-tier ECHL, where he scored 27 points in 32 games before suffering a season-ending injury. The following year, Robidas showed no signs of slowing down, quickly adapting to the step-up in competition from the ECHL to AHL. In 72 games for the Wolves, Robidas scored 20 goals and 55 points.

That strong performance as an AHL rookie gave Robidas the chance to make his NHL debut, and in two NHL games last season, Robidas managed two points. So far this year, Robidas has kept up his scoring pace, as he has 12 points through 16 games. While his slight frame is likely to always work against him in terms of carving out a long-term place in the NHL, he’s done everything in his power thus far in his pro career to be an impactful all-around player. His swiftness on the ice and high work rate lends itself well to the specific style of play the Hurricanes like to employ, and with this call-up, Robidas will get a new chance to showcase his talents to the Hurricanes’ decision-makers.

While he’s not a full-time NHL player just yet, if he can get into some games during this call-up and play well, today’s transaction could go a long way in helping him achieve that status at some point down the line.

Snapshots: Werenski, Olivier, Karmanov

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The Columbus Blue Jackets suffered a tough 5-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Monday night, and a further blow was dealt to the team when veteran Zach Werenski was forced to leave the game due to an injury. The club announced tonight that Werenski suffered an upper-body injury during the game, and after, Columbus head coach Dean Evason told the media (including NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti) that it was too early to tell the extent of the injury. Evason did say that the team will evaluate Werenski’s status tomorrow.

Werenski has a strong argument as the Blue Jackets’ best player. The 28-year-old is a Norris Trophy-caliber all-around defenseman who scored 82 points in 81 games last season and finished as the Norris Trophy runner-up. He has 21 points through 23 games this season, good for second on the team in scoring. He plays just over 26 minutes per night, and is relied-upon by Evason in just about every key situation. While it’s too early to tell if Werenski’s injury is anything serious, if the Blue Jackets have to go without their most important player for any extended amount of time, that absence would likely deal a significant amount of damage to their ability to keep pace in a hotly-contested Eastern Conference Wild Card race.

Other notes from around the hockey world:

  • Werenski wasn’t the only Blue Jackets player to leave the game with an upper-body injury; the team also announced that forward Mathieu Olivier would miss the rest of the game with his own upper-body ailment. While Olivier isn’t nearly as crucial to the Blue Jackets’ lineup as Werenski is, his loss would also be felt by the team should his injury sideline him for any notable period of time. Olivier is one of the game’s more intimidating physical wingers, and he also showed some goal-scoring touch last season, scoring a career-high 18 times. The Blue Jackets will evaluate Olivier’s status tomorrow, as they will with Werenski.
  • The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler reported tonight that prospect blueliner Alexander Karmanov will sign with the OHL’s North Bay Battalion tomorrow, registering as the team’s third import player. Karmanov, 17, is notable as he stands 7’0″ tall and weighs 278 pounds, according to Elite Prospects’ listing. There are no defensemen in the NHL (or AHL, for that matter) with that kind of size profile, and in an NHL that has become increasingly focused on size and strength for defensemen, that alone is enough to help Karmanov garner interest as a pro prospect. A Penn State commit who is repped by Dan Milstein’s Gold Star Sports Management, Karmanov’s reported signing in the OHL gives him a greater platform to raise his stock as a prospect in advance of the 2026 NHL Draft, which he is eligible to be selected in.

East Injury Updates: Miller, Quick, Maple Leafs

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As the New York Rangers attempt to spark a push up the Eastern Conference standings tonight during their game against the St. Louis Blues, they’ll need to do so without the on-ice help of captain J.T. Miller. Newsday’s Colin Stephenson reported today that Miller remains out with an upper-body injury on a day-to-day timeline. While the injury appears highly unlikely to keep Miller out of action for very long, it is a discouraging development nonetheless in what has been a troubling start to the season for both Miller and the Rangers as a whole. The Rangers traded two promising young players in Filip Chytil and Victor Mancini, as well as a first-round pick, to the Vancouver Canucks to acquire Miller, and at the time the move seemed easily defensible as Miller had very recently scored 37 goals and 103 points. Centers capable of that level of production are very rarely made available, and since the Rangers already had a cornerstone defenseman (Adam Fox) and franchise goalie (Igor Shesterkin), paying that price to add a true number-one center was seen as a “win” for the team.

But since Miller has arrived in New York, he’s only been able to match the level of play he set in Vancouver on a sporadic basis. Miller scored a solid 35 points in 32 games last season, but the Rangers failed to reach the playoffs. So far this year, Miller has struggled to produce as consistently, and has just 12 points in 22 games. That’s a 45-point 82-game pace. For a player making $8MM against the cap with the clear expectation to be a leading scorer on a playoff team, that’s simply not enough production for the Rangers to get where they want to go as a team. While this injury will sideline Miller for a short while, it won’t rob him of his chance to turn around his season whenever he recovers and returns to the ice. For the Rangers to restore their status as true Stanley Cup contenders, a status they lived up to by reaching two Eastern Conference Finals in three seasons, they’ll need Miller healthy and firing on all cylinders.

Other injury notes from the Eastern Conference:

  • Stephenson also reported that veteran Rangers backup goalie Jonathan Quick has a lower-body injury and is still being evaluated. While the Rangers have a young, capable No. 3 goalie in their organization in the form of Dylan Garand, who was an AHL All-Star last season, any extended absence faced by Quick would damage the Rangers’ ability to turn around their season. Through six games played this year, Quick has turned back the clock, putting forward performances reminiscent of his prime years backstopping the Los Angeles Kings to Stanley Cup championships. Quick is 3-3-0 in his six starts with a .944 save percentage and 1.69 goals-against-average. While he’s 39 years old and a pending UFA, he’s making the case to remain the Rangers’ backup for next season with his form early in 2025-26. His current lower-body injury threatens the momentum he’s built so far this year, though, and the Rangers are likely hoping his absence is a brief one.
  • Toronto Maple Leafs blueliners Chris Tanev and Marshall Rifai were on the ice before practice today, according to The Hockey News’ Nick Barden. Tanev, 35, hasn’t played since he was helped off the ice in the team’s Nov. 1 game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Tanev remains without a firm recovery timeline, though he is not expected to return anytime soon. Rifai, 27, has spent most of his time in the Maple Leafs organization at the AHL level, save for two games in 2023-24. He’s working his way back from wrist surgery and will likely be assigned to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies whenever his recovery concludes.

New Jersey Devils Reassign Shane Lachance

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The New Jersey Devils announced today that forward Shane Lachance has been reassigned to their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets. The move came in tandem with the team activating center Cody Glass off of injured reserve.

Today’s move ends what was the first NHL call-up of Lachance’s young professional career. The 22-year-old, who is the son of former NHLer Scott Lachance (who serves as the Devils’ director of amateur scouting), is currently in his first full season of professional hockey. Lachance signed his entry-level deal in April and got a two-game cameo late in the AHL season with the Comets on an ATO.

While Lachance has gotten off to a bit of a slow start at the AHL level in terms of scoring (he has registered just one point through 11 games), his game has always been about more than just scoring, something that was the case for him both at Boston University and with the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL.

Lachance stands 6’5″ 218 pounds, and his ability to impact a game away from the puck has helped him earn the pro opportunities he’s gotten. What’s also helped him has been his résumé as a leader. Lachance captained Youngstown to a Clark Cup championship in 2022-23, and captained Boston University to the 2025 NCAA Men’s Hockey national championship game last season.

During this most recent call-up, Lachance ended up skating in one NHL game, the team’s Nov. 15 win against the Washington Capitals. While he only played in 10 shifts for a little over seven minutes of ice time, he did receive a financial benefit for remaining on the NHL roster for three additional games as a healthy scratch. The terms of Lachance’s entry-level contract stipulate that he receive a $80K salary while in the AHL, and a league-minimum $775K salary in the NHL. So while Lachance did have to watch from the press box as a healthy scratch for three games, the fact that he was able to spend 10 days on the Devils’ NHL roster will provide him with a brief, but substantial pay bump.

For Lachance to stick in the NHL on a more permanent basis moving forward, it’s likely he’ll need to prove he can produce at some level with the Comets. Utica has struggled to score as a whole so far this season. They are the AHL’s lowest-scoring team with just 26 goals in 15 games. The Grand Rapids Griffins, who are in the middle of the pack in scoring in the AHL, have scored 56 times this season, while playing one fewer game than Utica.

At the moment, Utica’s offensive situation appears dire, which adds another challenge for Lachance as a player trying to adjust his game to the professional ranks. But even though the team as a whole has struggled mightily to generate offense, Lachance will likely need to find a way to improve his production if he wants to position himself best for a future call-up opportunity.

Colorado Avalanche Reassign Jason Polin, Tristen Nielsen

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The Colorado Avalanche announced today that forwards Tristen Nielsen and Jason Polin have been reassigned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles.

Polin was originally recalled to the Avalanche’s NHL roster on Nov. 21, while Nielsen was recalled on Nov. 20. Nielsen got into three games during this recall, while Polin drew into two.

The Avalanche did not surrender a goal in both games where Polin and Nielsen played, with Nielsen scoring his first NHL point during the team’s win over the Chicago Blackhawks yesterday.

Both Polin and Nielsen are undrafted forwards who have spent significant time in the AHL en route to becoming NHL call-up options. Nielsen began his pro career with the Abbotsford Canucks, and won the Calder Cup with the team in 2024-25.

Polin, 26, had a four-year college hockey career at Western Michigan University, where he starred as a senior, scoring 30 goals and 47 points in 39 games. Polin was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as a senior, and was his conference’s player of the year.

While neither player has fully established himself in the NHL to this point, (and their recent recall further underscores that), it’s clear they have at least earned the trust of the Avalanche to the point where they’ll be called on to fill NHL roles in instances where injuries hit.

This season doesn’t carry major financial implications for Nielsen, who remains under contract through 2026-27 at a $775K cap hit (with a two-way structure and total guarantee of $225K next season) it is, however, an important one for Polin. Polin is a pending unrestricted free agent who will have the opportunity in the summer to leave the only pro organization he’s ever known, assuming he does not sign an extension beforehand.

Polin is currently playing out a one-year, two-way contract carrying a league-minimum NHL cap hit and a $140K guarantee at the AHL level. AHL veterans have had some difficulty in recent years securing contracts to continue their career in the AHL due to the league’s development rule, which caps the number of players a team can dress for any game that have cleared a specific threshold of professional games played.

For Polin, this is where his extensive NCAA career comes in handy. By developing his game in the NCAA, he has limited his exposure to pro hockey, leaving him at this point with just 115 total pro games played. That gives him a solid amount of runway before teams will need to consider the AHL’s development rule when signing him, which should alleviate some of the pressure on him heading into an important unrestricted free agency.

Now back in the AHL thanks to this reassignment, it’ll be important for both Polin and Nielsen to continue playing well for the Eagles. Nielsen has nine goals and 14 points in 16 games this season, while Polin has six points through 16 games.

With other call-up options waiting in the wings, such as veterans Alex Barre-Boulet and T.J. Tynan, as well as younger contributors Ivan Ivan and Taylor Makar, it’ll be important for Nielsen and Polin to sustain their momentum in a crowded field of call-up options.

Detroit Red Wings Recall Erik Gustafsson

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The Detroit Red Wings have recalled Erik Gustafsson from their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. In a corresponding move, the club has placed forward Elmer Soderblom on injured reserve, retroactive to Nov. 9.

These moves place Gustafsson in position to potentially make his season debut for 2025-26. The veteran did not make the Red Wings’ NHL roster out of training camp, and has spent the entirety of the season thus far in the AHL. Through 10 games with Grand Rapids, Gustafsson has eight points, and is the most experienced blueliner available on the Griffins for the Red Wings to call up.

This recall indicates that Gustafsson is above fellow veteran Justin Holl in the team’s call-up priority order. Holl has just three points in 11 AHL games this season, though it’s important to draw a distinction between the style each blueliner plays when comparing the two. Holl has a more defensively-oriented game than Gustafsson, who is a natural puck-mover and power play quarterback.

Gustafsson was also the more successful NHL player than Holl, or at least reached a higher peak at the NHL level. In 2018-19, Gustafsson scored 60 points, leading all Chicago Blackhawks defensemen in scoring. As recently as 2022-23, Gustafsson remained an effective generator of offense from the blue line. He scored 42 points in 70 games between the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs, and followed that up with 31 points in 76 games playing 2023-24 for the New York Rangers.

It was after that strong campaign on Broadway that Gustafsson earned the two-year, $2MM AAV deal he’s currently playing out. His tenure in Michigan hasn’t gone to plan, though, as he scored just 18 points in 60 games in 2024-25 and appears to have been passed by several young defensemen, something that culminated in him needing to start the year in the AHL.

With this recall, he gets the chance to return to an NHL roster and perhaps get into some NHL games. While Gustafsson wouldn’t be a natural fit for that role as a left-handed defenseman, his addition to the roster could allow the Red Wings to take veteran Travis Hamonic, who has struggled this season, out of the lineup.

The chance to get back into the NHL and potentially hold down a spot in an NHL lineup is a significant opportunity for Gustafsson. As a pending UFA, spending the year in the AHL would likely do significant damage to his hopes of securing a strong contract in the upcoming free agent market. Assuming he gets the chance to draw into head coach Todd McLellan’s lineup, it’ll be very important that he finds a way to make a positive contribution.

Soderblom, a forward, was also involved in a transaction today, although his was more of a procedural move to clear a roster spot for Gustafsson to occupy. Soderblom has been out for two weeks with an undisclosed injury, and it’s unclear at this point what his timeline is to return.

The fact that his IR placement was retroactive does provide Detroit with the flexibility to activate him whenever he’s ready, though, bypassing the customary one-week waiting period mandated by standard, non-retroactive IR placements.

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